The 8 Editions of the First BTCTKVR Magazine

Since I first introduced it to the world via Twitter on July 19th 2021, the BTCTKVR magazine has exceeded all expectations. What started as a one-off experiment which involves printing and distributing some of my best articles has quickly turned into a part-time job. Between July and December 2021, I’ve sent out 442 magazines to more than 26 countries, across all 5 continents. And in spite of my best efforts, there are still people who ask me how they can get a copy.

442 might not sound like much, but we’re talking about a one-man operation. For 6 of the 8 editions, I have taken care of all the logistics myself. And it can be time-consuming to manage the orders, pick up the magazines from the print shop, sign and number each copy manually, package, stamp, and then finally take goodies to the post office for delivery. But I’ve loved every second of it and I feel grateful that there is demand for my work.

You see, before producing the magazine I used to write a lot, record dozens of podcast episodes every year, shoot video reviews, and also do lots of other quirky Bitcoin projects like the 24/7 radio stream. But my problem was that I couldn’t find an effective way to promote my work in a meaningful fashion, outside of the fragile social media echo chamber.

Sure, I’d post about my latest article on Twitter and Reddit. Then I’d do my best to start a conversation about the topic and find potential debaters. But due to the nature of these networks, my posts would often get buried by the algorithms. Very few people would see them – let alone interact with them. It’s never the signal that grabs people’s attention and gets the boosted, but the noise. Those who know how to juggle with drama tend to climb the ladder of success a lot faster, as proven by a few top podcasters.

And this really bothers me, as I’m not the kind of guy who enjoys playing with people’s opinions and emotions for the sake of causing controversy and therefore farming engagement. I’d rather write another article or record an interesting podcast episode than argue with an internet stranger just because we disagree on one insignificant view, he happens to have more followers than me, and therefore I want to grab the attention of his audience.

Now I write articles knowing that I’ll publish them in a magazine. Nothing goes to waste anymore and I have an incentive to make an extra effort to do a better job. I can focus on quality and avoid the noise. I’m also more efficient at reaching an audience, since magazines are sought-after collectibles in the Bitcoin space. Which means that I also get better at answering the annoying yet necessary question that marketing departments ask before offering any kind of sponsorship: “What is your target audience?”

Of course this doesn’t mean that I’ll collect data. If anyone asks me to whom I’ve sent the magazine, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell more than 30 names out of 400+. It’s because I didn’t keep any kind of records and all the shipping information that I received was immediately written on the envelope that I’d later send out. At the post office, I always opted for the slower but more private delivery option which minimizes data collection.

So if you’re the first recipient of this magazine, then rest assured that your data was not saved in any electronic database. It’s basically the same kind of delivery that happens with normal letters: no tracking, no barcodes, no QRs, only a barebones postal service.

While I can vaguely remember to which countries I sent most of the magazines, I don’t and mustn’t remember everybody’s name and address.

Another phenomenon that I’ve observed is that people pay more attention to something that they read in print. They’ll even show better signs of remembrance, as some will be able to recall when they read an article and what else they were doing on that specific day. While internet articles are nice and convenient, physical media leaves a stronger impression on all of us.

Now please allow me to remind you that the BTCTKVR magazine is a free open source project: you can find all the pages and files in a public GitHub, and you are free to use the content in every way described by the Creative Commons Zero 1.0 license (read, distribute, multiply, modify, and even sell). For more information, visit github.com/VladdyC/BTCTKVR-Magazine.

This may sound counter-intuitive for a project as centralized as a magazine for which one person writes all the articles. But I want the information to be available to everyone who needs it. If somebody from Burkina Faso, Tibet or Paraguay wants to print a few copies for a local meet-up or conference, then they shouldn’t ask for my permission.

They might as well sell magazines and make hefty profits out of it, I’ll never ask for a single bit in return. Printing, distribution, and advertising take a lot of work and I’m well aware of it. I’m happy knowing that more people read my work to get educated about Bitcoin. If anyone wants to support my work, they can make a donation.

So why did I create different editions instead of printing the exact same copy? Well, I’ve never intended to mass-produce BTCTKVR and sell it on every major Bitcoin-related store. I see my magazines as rare collectibles that I offer to people I like – and more than 300 of the 442 copies have been given away for free thanks to the generous sponsors that believe in my work and support it.

Another reason for creating editions concerns modifications: after the first batch of 150, I’ve received some feedback from David St-Onge and I had to fix a couple of issues. Then for the Raretoshi Liquid sidechain NFT edition I’ve added an extra article to incentivize L-BTC bidders on the platform to grab this limited print. And when I wanted to mark a special moment (like the 2021 BTC-USD all-time high) or support a conference, I’ve put their logo on the cover and made slight changes to the foreword.

Before printing the Counterparty NFT edition, the magazine’s French translator Duck Avenger (also known as @Griptoshi on Twitter) and a Portuguese supporter known as Rafaelpac have also reported a couple of duplicate paragraphs that somehow slipped the initial scrutiny. Which means that from the first edition to the last, throughout a process which took about five months, the BTCTKVR magazine has been perfected and improved thanks to community feedback. Like a true open source project.

Of the 442 copies, I’ve manually signed and numbered 382 of them. I must thank Madelyn Ash and HODL Barbarian from the Atlanta Bitcoin conference team for taking care of this logistical detail with ~60 copies – otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to offer the magazine to the dozens of Bitcoin developers who spoke at the event.

Likewise, I must thank Mauro Peretti, Ricardo Martinez, and Lawrence Ray from the Bitrefill team – it was them who handled the distribution of 40 out of 80 magazines from the second batch. Speaking of, Bitcoin NFT artist Crypsi has paid for the CoinFest UK edition (60 copies) and then handed them all at the event venue – and for his contribution, I’m very grateful.

I must also thank the sponsors of the project. When I turned 29 years old in February 2021, I told myself that I would have the most productive year of my life so far. In this increasingly Orwellian world, keeping myself distracted with work helps me stay sane. And when my work aims to liberate people by teaching them how to opt out from tyranny, I truly feel like I’m doing something worthwhile.

First of all, I must thank Vaultoro CEO Joshua Scigala. Since he agreed to sponsor my podcast in November 2020, I didn’t have to worry about finding a job and getting more freelancing gigs on the side. Being able to focus on what I want to create is the reason why this magazine exists and I will forever be grateful to Joshua for seeing potential in my work.

Likewise, I have to thank Rafe, Max Hillebrand, and Adam Ficsor (Nopara73) from Wasabi wallet. When I was looking for a second sponsor for my podcast, they have made key contributions which enabled a form of partnership. As I told them, I’d recommend people to use Wasabi even if I wasn’t paid for it. But I feel grateful that they could work something out.

Other people who helped me print more magazines are Anthony and Kristyna from Trezor, Matt Hill from Start9 (who also produced about 5 small-sized copies for a Lightning network meet-up in Denver), Chris from Mallorca Blockchain Days, Ben Arc from LNBits, and Bitrefill’s dynamic trio which consists of Mauro, Lawrence, and Ricardo. I’m equally grateful to all of them, as they supported the project before getting the chance to read a single page.

It was this incredible amount of trust that they had in my work that motivated me to exceed all expectations – which I did, as the experimental first batch of 150 copies has multiplied to 442. The fact that most of these sponsors have decided to also stick around for the second BTCTKVR magazine makes me really proud.

In 2021, the BTCTKVR magazine has been distributed at 3 conferences: Mallorca Blockchain Days (July-August), The Atlanta Bitcoin Conference (TABConf, November), and CoinFest UK (November). If we count Bitrefill’s team-building event from October as a conference, then the number goes up to 4.

There was also an event in Nebraska which wanted to distribute some of my magazines, but at the time I couldn’t afford to cover the printing and delivery expenses. Maybe next time!

So what’s the price of a magazine which was mostly given away for free? Well, the most somebody offered for the NFT editions (on both Raretoshi and Counterparty) is 0.0021 BTC. We’re talking about the third and seventh editions, which both had limited supplies of 21 copies. Now it’s up to the free market to determine how much the other magazines are worth – some are older, some are scarcer, and the later editions feature some bug fixes.

Now let’s finally address the scarcity aspect: there currently are 8 different editions of the first BTCTKVR magazine and I don’t intend to produce more – at least not in their original form. I’d probably do something like a double feature which includes the first two magazines in one super thick binding. Don’t worry though, anyone can always print more copies of the free open source version on GitHub.

Even if I do give in to pressure and decide to sell out, I’ll make sure that the edition is clearly distinguishable and doesn’t inflate the supply of the early editions (changing the cover and foreword are two essential procedures that you can already find in the 8 existing editions).

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BTCTKVR, 1st Edition (July-August 2021)

When Nindy (European Bitcoin conference organizer) asked me if I’d like to speak at Mallorca Blockchain Days 2021, I took a quick look at the speakers list to know what to expect. As soon as I noticed that Bitcoin developers like Peter Todd (one of the most prolific Core devs and the mastermind behind RBF), Amir Taaki (creator of Libbitcoin and the BIP system), Christian Rootzoll (maintainer of RaspiBlitz) and Thomas Voegtlin (creator of Electrum wallet) were some of the headliners, I knew that a simple business card won’t suffice for the purpose of introducing myself.

I needed something better that would leave a lasting impression on every speaker and participant. Furthermore, I wanted to introduce myself with an item that everyone would keep even if they disliked me as a person – with high-quality glossy paper and colorful graphics. It was then that I decided that the time was right to revisit my old idea of putting together some of my best articles to create a magazine. In mid-June, I contacted my friend Mihnea Niță and asked him to design something which resembles an old-school computer magazine.

Based on my love for classic rock, I’ve also wanted to include a prominent Droste effect on the front cover – just like Pink Floyd did for their 1969 album Ummagumma. Mihnea told me to snap a picture of me holding any magazine and then worked his photo editing magic to produce the iconic cover.

Ever wondered what I was actually holding? It’s the Romanian video game magazine NXT LVL, which I edited in 2020. Obviously, it couldn’t be BTCTKVR because it didn’t exist yet. Also, the t-shirt that I’m wearing was designed by John Carvalho for his Bitcoin Intel Pro merchandise project, and he gave it to me for my 28th birthday. Allegedly, it’s based on a North Korean propaganda poster.

Here’s a random fact that should be useful to collectors: Mihnea designed two different versions of the cover. The first one features a futuristic Blade Runner-style metropolis in the background, while the second is filled with orange Bitcoin balls. When I couldn’t make up my mind about which one we should use, we created a mixed model which takes the Tokyo-like front and adds the ballsy back cover.

The second design ended up being used for the free and open source digital version of the magazine, while the futuristic one was sent to the print shop to become the trademark of the first edition.

It’s also worth noting that the design with the orange balls has been remixed for the remaining 6 out of 8 editions: by applying different effects, filters, and logos, I’ve accomplished to create something different. If you take a close look at the first edition prints, you’re going to see that the Droste effect includes the orange ball design too – a way to foreshadow upcoming editions, just in case that the project becomes successful.

The plan was to give away the magazine for free to everyone who wanted one. And in order to accomplish this feat, I had to search for sponsors. In a matter of two weeks, I was able to convince Vaultoro, Wasabi, Start9, LNBits, Bitrefill, Trezor, and Mallorca Blockchain Days (event organizer Chris was enthusiastic about the project and really wanted me to bring a copy for every participant).

My pitch was very simple: it costs me about 10 euro to print a magazine and another 10 euro to deliver one anywhere around the world. So any amount with which you can contribute is highly appreciated. Needless to say, I feel very grateful and I would like to thank all sponsors for believing in this project’s mission. All the money was spent on producing magazines – even when I had to sell BTC at a loss around $30k.

On July 19th 2021, the BTCTKVR magazine was officially announced to the world – introduced with the metropolis-themed cover which is the most distinguishable visual characteristic of this edition. Only 150 copies were printed – of which 50 ended up in the hands of Mallorca Blockchain Days participants, and the rest have been mailed to bitcoiners worldwide. Every copy is manually signed and numbered by me with a red marker pen (with the exception of number 110/150, which “Talking in Bits” co-host Marty told me that I forgot to sign).

Given that it’s the first edition of the magazine, it also has all the mistakes and bugs that have been fixed in subsequent releases. But some collectors told me that mistakes usually make rare items more valuable, so I’ll have to trust their expertise on the matter.

Here are the facts that every collector should know about this first edition:

Total Supply: 150 copies (manually numbered and signed with a red marker pen)

Announcement Date: July 19th 2021

Official Launch: Mallorca Blockchain Days, July 30th 2021 (50 copies were given to speakers and participants)

Distribution: Copies numbered 1 to 29 were given away to friends, family members, and people on Twitter who showed interest in receiving a free magazine. Copies numbered 30 to 80 were distributed in person during the Mallorca Blockchain Days 2021 conference. The remaining 70 copies were sent out via post delivery in August and early September 2021.

Number of Pages: 92

Printed In: Romania

Cost: Thanks to the sponsors, it was delivered/handed for free.

Final Paragraph in the Foreword: “This first issue of BTCTKVR was printed in 150 copies and will get distributed during the Mallorca Blockchain Days 2021 conference (both at the venue and outside of it). And while you can treat this magazine as a collectible, I recommend that you pass it on to a friend after you’re done reading it. Every copy of BTCTKVR is a super spreader event.”

Special Cover: Dark background, with a Tokyo/metropolis theme on the front cover. In the Droste effect you can see a hint about the upcoming magazines.

Famous Owners: Peter Todd (39/150), Thomas Voegtlin, Amir Taaki, Joshua Scigala (30/150), Matt Hill, John Carvalho, Nopara73, Harry Halpin, Sat Symbol, Chris DeRose, Junseth, Eppo Leemburg (92/150), JScrilla (21/150), Matthew Haywood (25/150), Hitomi Moryiama and Kenichi Kurimoto (Nayuta), Bryan and Colin Aulds, Mike in Space, David St-Onge (87/150), Marty Byrde (110/150), Ketominer, DecentralizedD1 and AdventureDr (both of them collected every issue), FartFace2000, Satoshi’s Witness.

No-coiners who might sell you their copy: Search for ioana.balaur (22/150) and georgianacomarniceanu (80ish/150) on Instagram. I tried to orange pill them, I’m not sure if it worked.

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BTCTKVR, 2nd Edition (September-October 2021)

Officially launched on September 29th 2021, this second edition is also called “the Bitrefill edition” – as the gift card merchant has offered to sponsor the entire batch of 80 copies, all of which feature their logo on the front cover. Before the company’s annual team-building event, I’ve received a special request for content: Bitrefill asked me to send 40 magazine copies for all of their employees and collaborators.

Thanks to the logistical planning provided by Mauro, Ricardo and Lawrence, each member of their team has received a little bit of love from the Bitcoin Takeover project. I was happy to once again make magazine the printer go BRRR, and I’ve spread the love among other bitcoiners too.

As would become the norm for each edition, I’ve changed the last paragraph of the foreword. Also, the front cover makes use of the template for the free open source version – thanks to a little bit of Photoshop wizardry, it looks as sweet as honey. David St-Onge’s vigilant scrutiny has also played a major role: at page 39, the word “about” has been changed to “amount”.

Technically speaking, this is the fourth version that I conceptualized (the second being the free open source edition which has been available since August 2021, and the third being the Raretoshi NFT which I minted on Bitcoin’s Liquid sidechain later that same month). But it’s the second one that I actually printed, and the longest Proof of Work chain is determined by production, not mempool transactions.

Here are the facts that every collector should know about the second edition of the BTCTKVR magazine:

Total Supply: 80 copies (manually numbered and signed with a red marker pen)

Announcement Date: September 29th 2021

Official Launch: Bitrefill’s annual team-building event, which took place in early October in Spain.

Distribution: Copies numbered 1 to 40 were sent to Spain so the Bitrefill team can pick them up and handle the distribution at the event. The remaining magazines (numbers 41 to 80) were given away to bitcoiners and friends who showed a degree of interest. By mid-October, I had no more copies left.

Number of Pages: 92

Printed In: Romania

Cost: Thanks to Bitrefill, it was delivered for free.

Final Paragraph in the Foreword: “This is the Bitrefill edition of the BTCTKVR Magazine. As opposed to the Mallorca Blockchain Days edition from July 2021 (150 copies), the NFT version from August 2021 (21 copies), and the free open source version (which anyone can print), it features a unique front cover and a limited supply of 80 copies. 40 of these copies (numbered 1 to 40) will be distributed to the Bitrefill employees, while the remaining 40 (numbered 41 to 80) will be given away to various Bitcoin community members”.

Special Cover: Honey-colored front cover with the Bitcoin balls background from the free open source edition. On the bottom right corner, you will find the Bitrefill logo.

Famous Owners: Giacomo Zucco, Robert Njogu (Kenya), Sergej Kotliar, Joshua Scigala, Valeriya Georgieva, AdventureDr, DecentralizedD1.

No-coiners who might sell you their copy: Search for bassosarah on Instagram. I sent her a copy, but she didn’t seem to be too happy about the gift.

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BTCTKVR, 3rd Edition (August-November 2021)

When I told Vaultoro CEO Joshua Scigala that I want to offer the magazines for free as rare collectibles, he told me to look into Liquid network NFTs on Raretoshi. The rationale was very simple: tokenized ownership was at its peak, Liquid has pretty good scalability and low transaction costs, and the user experience makes everything easy.

After returning home from Mallorca Blockchain Days in early August, I signed up to Raretoshi and submitted a slightly modified version of the BTCTKVR magazine cover. After my initiative was approved by the administrators (unlike Counterparty, which I’d discover about a month later, Raretoshi is permissioned and centralized), I’ve finally minted the NFTs: 21 copies for which anyone could bid with amounts ranging from 0.0011 to 0.0021 L-BTC (bitcoins pegged on the Liquid sidechain).

This was the first time when I experimented with the physical NFT concept: you get the NFT from the auction website, and then also receive the physical magazine as a bonus. Furthermore, it was the first time when I actually used Liquid. Later in the month, I’ve documented my experiences in the article “Raretoshi: Bitcoin NFTs on the Liquid Sidechain” (a piece which was later translated to French, Spanish, and German).

This article became a bonus for this edition: which means that the Liquid NFT magazine has 6 extra pages which give collectors an incentive to also own this one. You won’t find this piece of text printed in any other version of the magazine, so this one is truly rare.

Speaking of rareness, the front cover’s purple cover and grungy textures is a homage to all the valuable and highly collectible trading cards. A 1999 Pikachu card, in which the popular Pokemon has red cheeks and a purple background costs anywhere between $400 and $2800. In RPGs like Diablo 2, the stats of rare and powerful swords such as Blood Edge Colossus are written in purple.

In many cultures, purple means rare and of superior quality – so I’ve tried to also convey this chromatic meaning to the limited-run magazine.

Aside from being rare and including an extra article, this third edition is also the only one whose entirety of owners are publicly known (at least according to their Raretoshi user names). So it’s relatively easy to figure out who owns which copy.

There’s also something to be said about delivery time: though this edition was first announced in mid-August 2021, it took until early November to print and send each one of the 21 copies. The whole “physical NFT” concept didn’t seem too appealing at first, but many people were curious to use Liquid for the first time.

Here are the facts that every collector should know about the third edition of the BTCTKVR magazine:

Total Supply: 21 copies (manually numbered and signed with a red marker pen, with the special inclusion of the Liquid asset hash and IPFS image address)

Release Date: August 17th 2021

Official Launch: On Raretoshi, a digital art marketplace that’s build on Blockstream’s Liquid sidechain.

Distribution: All 21 copies were sent to the highest bidder of every Liquid NFT.

Number of Pages: 98

Printed In: Romania

Cost: Between 0.0011 and 0.0021 L-BTC

Final Paragraph in the Foreword: “This is the NFT version of the BTCTKVR magazine, of which only 21 will ever get printed. It varied from the free open source edition in three important ways: the cover is colored differently, you get a bonus article, and the Liquid asset ID will be manually written inside this magazine. Enjoy this rare collectible!”

Special Cover: A purple variation of the FOSS edition, with a gritty/grungy filter added on top. On the bottom of the front cover you’ll find an orange-colored text which reads “RARE PHYSICAL NFT”.

Famous Owners: Adam Soltys (1/21), DecentralizedDad (2/21), Tweetious (3/21), Crypsi (4/21), Carlo Leone Spiller (5/21), RRizzling (6/21), PippoKatz (7/21), SatsLife (8/21), Jaminunit (9/21), bteecee (10/21), Kalevmagnusson (11/21), l0n0 (12/21), Sparky (13/21), Hodlonaut (14/21), DuckAvenger (15/21), bibiki (16/21), JediBTC (17/21), KASP3R (18/21), k00b (19/21), Vizique (20/21), timz (21/21).

No-coiners who might sell you their copy: LOL

Hidden inflation: I own a defective copy that’s missing two pages of content (they weren’t printed for whatever reason, so they’re entirely blank). I’ve numbered it 21/21, discovered the issue, told timz about it, and he didn’t want it in this condition. So I kept it for myself and printed another one for him.

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BTCTKVR, 4th Edition (November 2021)

Also known as the “CoinFest UK” edition or the “Manchester magazine”, this fourth iteration of BTCTKVR was printed in early November 2021 in 60 copies. It was Bitcoin artist Crypsi who made the special order, as he wanted to make a point about physical collectibles right in the middle of the NFT mania. Not only that, but he knew that a wave a shitcoiners was going to show up at CoinFest – so Crypsi decided to offer them some proper Bitcoin education with the BTCTKVR magazine.

Initially, the financing was only supposed to cover 50 magazines. But thanks to printing price negotiations and some cheap delivery tricks, I was able to produce 10 extra copies with the same money.

At first glance, this fourth edition looks identical with the free open source version. But there are three main differences: the FOSS edition uses a slightly darker shade of orange on the front cover (#EB8931 vs #F69320, for all of you HEX geeks), while the CoinFest UK version features a stylized Union Jack in the bottom right corner of the front cover. Last but not least, the last paragraph of the foreword was changed to please the Brit receivers.

It should also be mentioned that I’ve never printed and signed a copy of the FOSS version of the magazine – in contrast, all the 60 copies distributed in Manchester are manually numbered and signed by me. And if you pay extra attention to the articles, you’re going to notice that the fourth edition includes some tiny mistakes that I’ve fixed in the free open source version.

Here are the facts that every collector should know about the fourth edition of the BTCTKVR magazine:

Total Supply: 60 copies

Release Date: November 25th 2021 (but printed and sent to the UK three weeks earlier)

Official Launch: At CoinFest UK 2021

Distribution: I kept one copy (number 60/60), while the other 59 were handed by Crypsi at CoinFest 2021.

Number of Pages: 92

Printed In: Romania

Cost: Free for all CoinFest 2021 participants who asked for a copy.

Final Paragraph in the Foreword: “This special edition was created for the CoinFest UK conference, which takes place in Manchester between the 25th and the 28th of November 2021. By virtue of Crypsi’s patronage, you have received one of the 60 copies. So have fun learning more about Bitcoin and make sure you spread the knowledge to your peers!”

Special Cover: The front cover is a slightly modified take on the FOSS version, with a stylized UK flag in the bottom right corner.

Famous Owners: Crypsi, 5Ksana, Torsten Hoffmann (not confirmed).

No-coiners who might sell you their copy: Ask Crypsi, he knows best.

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BTCTKVR, 5th Edition (November 2021)

When I became aware of The Atlanta Bitcoin Conference (TABConf) 2021, I immediately knew that I must do everything I can to get some of my magazines to the event. The bad news is that, by the time I figured out I want to pursue the goal of handing one magazine per speaker, it was already too late to deliver the goodies.

Thankfully, I’ve received some logistical help from the organizers (Elwood the HODL Barbarian, Madelyn Ash, and Michael Tidwell). All I had to do was cover the printing costs, and the Atlanta folks were generous enough to find a good print shop and hand a copy of the magazine to each speaker or attendant who wanted one. Thank you, guys!

Essentially, all the BTC I’ve earned from the Raretoshi NFT edition was spent on making this spontaneous collaboration happen. But it was worth every bitcoin fraction, as the magazine ended up in the hands of people like Pieter Wuille, Jimmy Song, Justin Wales, and Mr. SeedSigner. I haven’t received confirmation from other developers, but the idea that Pieter Wuille might have read the article about Taproot makes the entire operation worthwhile.

As Michael Tidwell told me after the event, “there were a few speakers who politely declined”. So I’m not sure if other developers such as Andrew Poelstra, Matt Corallo, Andrew Chow, Murch, Jeremy Rubin, and Paul Sztorc received a copy. My dream of Nic Carter tweeting a picture of the BTCTKVR magazine next to his Tungsten cube also seems unlikely.

However, Bitcoin Magazine was in the house auctioning a few of their first issue magazines from 2012. And a few days later, I got a message from their CEO David Bailey – he informed me that he got his hands on one of my magazines and it’s “very punk rock and creative/authentic”. So it’s probably safe to say that getting BTCTKVR to Atlanta was a good idea and I should probably do more of this.

As I was made aware, there were some attendants who picked up some of the magazines that speakers declined to receive. This is how Bitcoin Coder Bob (whom you can hear in S6 E2 of the Bitcoin Takeover Podcast) got his copy, and it’s likely that others did the same. Mr. SeedSigner and Keith Mukai were not on the speakers list, but both took home a colorful magazine.

Now let’s talk about scarcity: since this is the only edition of the magazine that I didn’t print and deliver myself, I couldn’t verify myself that no more than 60 copies (the number for which I paid) have been printed. Elwood the HODL Barbarian told me that “60 something mags found an owner”, while Madelyn told me that “64 were printed for TAB” – of which one was sent to me. The first 60 were manually numbered by Madelyn, using a silver-colored Sharpie pen. It’s very easy to distinguish thanks to the metallic texture.

While the TABConf version of the magazine was distributed two weeks before CoinFest UK, the order is determined by the first copies that were printed.

Here are the facts that every collector should know about the fifth edition of the BTCTKVR magazine:

Total Supply: 64 copies (allegedly, one is defective)

Release Date: November 5th 2021

Official Launch: At The Atlanta Bitcoin Conference 2021 (TABConf)

Distribution: All numbered copies (1 to 60) were given to speakers and conference attendants. Of the unnumbered 4, I own one.

Number of Pages: 92

Printed In: USA

Cost: Free for all TABConf 2021 participants who picked up a copy.

Final Paragraph in the Foreword: “This fifth edition of the BTCTKVR magazine was printed for the TABConf 2021 event (Atlanta, November 4-6). The fact that you’ve received a copy means that you must be one of the conference speakers, a member of the organizing team, or somebody really dear to those passionate bitcoiners. Take care of your mag – only 60 of these have been printed and they’re all distinct from the other editions of BTCTKVR!”

Special Cover: The front cover features a left-right color contrast which resembles something you’d see in a Star Wars poster. The left side has shades of red and purple, the middle is dark, and the right side has shades of green and purple. Also, a doubling Holga effect was added to the entire surface of the image – so you can see subtle shadows all around. The composition is completed by the orange “TABConf ’21” logo at the bottom.

Famous Owners: Pieter Wuille, Jimmy Song, SeedSigner, Keith Mukai, Bitcoin Coder Bob, Justin Wales, probably also David Bailey.

No-coiners who might sell you their copy: LOL

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BTCTKVR, 6th Edition (November 2021)

In early November, as TABConf and CoinFest UK were getting supplied with magazines, two interesting phenomena happened: genuine demand emerged for the magazines on Twitter, with people asking me how they can get a copy if they aren’t attending any of the two conferences; also, the price of bitcoin hit its new all-time high of $68444.

This was when I decided to create a collectible which marks this special moment. With a supply of only 50 copies and a price point which barely covered the printing and delivery costs ($21 via Lightning, at the ATH rate), it went out of stock before I printed the first copy.

If anything, you can refer to this as the affordable version that anyone had the chance to get in a time when the project’s popularity was at its peak. It doesn’t feature any major changes, but the front cover and foreword are both unique and easily distinguishable.

Some may argue that there are similarities between the ATH edition and the magazines I sent to TABConf, but you can clearly see that the colors are positioned differently, the BTCTKVR logo at the top doesn’t feature the Holga effect and has orange “BTC” letters, there’s a rocket emoji which covers the masked troll army soldier, and the text on the bottom clearly reads “2021 ATH Edition”.

It’s also worth noting that, at the time when I decided to create this edition, some people thought I was being “bearish” in relation to the price. Well, joke’s on you because I’ve accurately called the top. If only I applied this intuition to trading!

I took the first 10 copies of the magazine to Budapest during my visit at Wasabi wallet HQ: so 20% of the owners are developers and marketers who work on the CoinJoin wallet. The remaining 80% were distributed all around the world, in countries such as Poland, Japan, The Netherlands, Hungary, Nigeria, and the United States of America. Don’t ask me to whom I sent them because I don’t and shouldn’t remember.

Here are the facts that every collector should know about the sixth edition of the BTCTKVR magazine:

Total Supply: 50 copies

Release Date: November 9th 2021

Official Launch: On Twitter and at Wasabi Wallet HQ

Distribution: All 50 copies have been numbered from 1 to 50. Magazines numbered 1 to 10 were given to Wasabi wallet employees and collaborators.

Number of Pages: 92

Printed In: Romania

Cost: Roughly 0.0003 BTC (300 bits/30k sats)

Final Paragraph in the Foreword: “This 6th edition of the BTCTKVR celebrates our momentarily ATH and aims to offer you a unique collectible which marks this historic moment. Only 50 copies with this cover and foreword will ever get printed – and you are the lucky HODLer of one!”

Special Cover: Apparently, the front cover resembles the one from the Atlanta edition. However, there are evident chromatic differences when you put them side by side. This one also lacks the “doubling” Holga effect on the logo, features a rocket emoji on the t-shirt, and includes the text “2021 ATH Edition” at the bottom. For reference, see the comparison below.

Famous Owners: Nopara73, David Molnar, Lucas Ontivero, Yuval Nothingmuch, Karo Zagorus.

No-coiners who might sell you their copy: LOL

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BTCTKVR, 7th Edition (December 2021)

The second BTCTKVR magazine proved to be a more challenging and demanding project than I expected. With longer articles, a more in-depth approach to topics, and two other volunteers who worked on translations for each piece, the difficulty level spiked significantly. At the time, I was coordinating with the original graphic designer Mihnea (who arranged more than half of the article), I noticed that the development is slower, so I’ve decided to keep the fire burning by creating one last magazine edition.

Since August 18th 2021, I’ve become very interested in experimenting with Counterparty – Bitcoin’s long-forgotten protocol which makes use of the base layer to enable tokenized asset creation. And in the middle of the NFT mania, I’ve also created (and mostly given away for free) some cards.

My idea was to do exactly what I’ve done with the Raretoshi edition of the magazine – but instead of using a centralized platform which curates content, I’d pursue the permissionless and censorship-resistant path of opening a dispenser (basically a vending machine for NFTs). Everyone who purchased one of the 21 BTCTKVRMAG NFTs for 0.0021 BTC has also received a free physical magazine delivery.

At the same time, I couldn’t replicate the recipe of the third edition for two reasons: I promised that the Raretoshi review article would remain exclusive to that version, and it’s likely that the Counterparty enthusiasts aren’t very interested in a network that’s less secure than Bitcoin’s base layer.

I was definitely going to write an in-depth review about Counterparty. But for rather selfish reasons, I’ve decided to keep it for the second magazine and publish this last edition in the trusty 92-page format.

So at block height 712796 (December 6th 2021), I’ve opened the dispenser. To my surprise, someone grabbed a BTCTKVRMAG NFT in the next block. Nine blocks later, another two were gone. However, the purchases slowed down after the 9th copy and it would take another 25 days until everything sold out. Nonetheless, given the stigma/bad reputation that NFTs had among Bitcoin maximalists, the result was remarkable. In comparison, the Liquid NFT edition took almost 3 months to sell out.

In the meantime, I’ve also rewarded the NFT owners with some extra airdrops of cards from the Bitcoin Head series (everyone should own some VLADHEAD, JOSHUAHEAD, and/or NOPARAHEAD cards).

Just like in the case of the Liquid NFT edition, I’ve used the third cover (the one next to the last page) to manually write down the NFT’s name, the block height at which it was dispensed, and the Bitcoin address to which the BTCTKVRMAG token got dispensed. Of course, the special number and signature are there just like in every other official BTCTKVR magazine.

Maybe that this edition doesn’t bring any new content – but thanks to reports from Duck Avenger (@Griptoshi) on Twitter and Rafaelpac (who submitted an issue on GitHub), all the tiny and overlooked mistakes have been fixed. With the Counterparty version, the first BTCTKVR magazine has finally reached maturity.

Like most free open source projects, it started with good ideas and good intentions, but an execution which proved to be suboptimal in some parts. This is where enthusiastic collaborators stepped in to help with quick fixes which polished the project and made it shine. So thank you for your contributions, it’s been an honor to work on this and entertain the critical minds of bitcoiners with high-quality content.

Here are the facts that every collector should know about the seventh edition of the BTCTKVR magazine:

Total Supply: 21 copies

Release Date: December 6th 2021

Official Launch: On Twitter

Distribution: Everyone bought their copy from the Counterparty dispenser which offered BTCTKVRMAG NFTs in exchange for 0.0021 BTC. Even I bought a copy for myself. But according to the Bitcoin spirit, I’ll enable everyone to benefit from the pseudonymity granted by BTC addresses (so no, I won’t tell you what is the number of the magazine I own, but it’s neither 1, nor 21).

Number of Pages: 92

Printed In: Romania

Cost: 0.0021 BTC

Final Paragraph in the Foreword: “This is the Counterparty edition of the BTCTKVR magazine, released in December 2021. If you own this, then you bought one of the BTCTKVRMAG Bitcoin NFTs from this dispenser: 24c4583336acd6705f02368879be8c3dcf7933b9c6b6c9cf61271ffa984fc6f6

Take care of this rare collectible, only 21 of them will ever exist. For more details about your copy, check the last page. Thank you for supporting my work!”

Special Cover: The front cover is as blue as the Genie from Aladdin’s lamp, features a prominent glitch effect, and includes gradient samples of the Counterparty logo at the bottom.

On the third cover (next to the last page) you will find the number, my signature, the name of the NFT, the block height at which it was dispensed, and the address which received the transfer. Everything is written by hand.

Famous Owners: bc1ql3yvqfmdpeztpt304h2rw00yl052wvllu2ldsg, 18NeUpEHzAquBcsncM5BGLR4VgaPXZhPp2, 1JTe3QnzZWAduLBRABusHziitUaYUgcm49… well, you get the point.

No-coiners who might sell you their copy: LOL

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BTCTKVR, 8th Edition (Forever Free & Open Source)

Well, at this point you’re probably asking yourself “How do I get one of these magazines without buying a copy on secondary markets?”. My answer for you is simple: print your own.

Unlike every other edition, the free open source BTCTKVR magazine has no supply cap, doesn’t require numbering, doesn’t rely on me for any kind of service, and is therefore permissionless and decentralized. You can feel free to print as many as you want and use it for any purpose you may envision. Feel free to produce copies for your conference or meetup, create some unique birthday gifts for your friends, or even sell the copies in your store.

All the files are in the project’s GitHub repository, so you can pick which pages from which articles you want to print and build your own unique copy of the BTCTKVR magazine. But if you want to create a copy which has all the 92 pages, here are the instructions:

1. Download all the magazine pages. Leave the covers for later, as they need to be printed separately on thicker paper. All the pages are jpeg files that you’ll have to convert to PDF;
2. Open a conversion website like smartpdf.com (or else use similar software that you install on your computer);
3. Take all pictures in the correct order and import them in your software. If you put everything in, you should get a PDF file that’s 107 MB large;
4. Download the covers from GitHub. This is a separate PDF.
5. Send both PDFs (compiled magazine pages + covers) to your favorite print shop. For an authentic BTCTKVR experience, tell them to use 300g glossy paper for the covers and 150g matte paper for the pages. The recommended format is A4, but you can feel free to experiment.
6. Based on my experience, printing a high-quality magazine costs 10 to 20 USD. The beauty of free open source projects is that you can create your own version of any quality, according to your own budget.
7. Enjoy reading and spreading knowledge!

For example, Matt Hill of Start9 has printed 5 copies of the FOSS magazine for a Lightning meet-up in Denver. He opted for a smaller pocket-sized format which makes this unofficial edition truly unique.

It includes a special last paragraph in the foreword, which reads: “Thanks to Matt Hill of Start9, the BTCTKVR magazine has travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to reach Mile High City. To make the event more special, we’ve changed the cover and this note, so your BTCTKVR is more of a rare collectible. But my suggestion for you is to pass the magazine to a friend after you finish reading it – make the Bitcoin Takeover a super spreader event”.

The copies are not numbered or signed, and I didn’t pay for their production or print them locally either. So I consider them an unofficial part of the collection and a great example of free open source magazine production. Everyone interested in free Bitcoin content for an event can do the same without asking for my permission or paying me anything.

But then again, if you’re on the market for a truly special collectible, watch out for one of the 442 “official” copies. And if you want to become a collector, then I’ve offered you all the resources you need to identify any copy that you might be missing. Thank you all for supporting my work and never stop spreading the good word about Bitcoin!